He doesn't like to haggle when he goes out to buy things, let alone cater to customers; my dad definitely wouldn't have the patience for that.
My dad poured all his patience into his carpentry work. Ask him to carve a piece of wood or make a piece of furniture. If he couldn't finish, he'd even drink as little water as possible and carefully control the time spent going to the bathroom.
It's really not suitable for him to run a business! Her brother Chen Yi is no good either; he's not the type to stay home and do nothing!
Let him drive around, let him stay in one place, unless it's a card table!
Her mother was no good either. The old lady was muddled and couldn't distinguish between good and bad people. She was easily deceived when interacting with others and always thought that taking a loss was a blessing. If she were to manage the shop, she would lose all her capital in less than six months.
The only shrewd person in her family was her sister-in-law, but her sister-in-law was too shrewd. Chen Hong was afraid that her sister-in-law would transfer all the family's money into her own pocket.
…………
Chen Hong said to Wang Yunyan, "Then can you help me see if there are any shops for sale in this area? If it's suitable, I'll buy one."
"Please keep an eye on things for me. My family is very honest and lives close to you, so I'll feel at ease going to Beijing."
Wang Yunyan laughed heartily: "I love to hear you say that. Your dad is a good man. Do you remember? The bench in our house was made by your dad and given to us!"
Chen Hong, you're so clever!
The shop two units away from mine is for sale; they only announced it two days ago. The owner of that shop and I bought the shop together, and it's exactly the same size as mine.
If I could afford it now, I'd buy it anyway. Even if I don't run the business myself, renting it out would be very profitable.
Chen Hong listened to advice, ate a full meal, dropped off her child, and went straight to the People's Department Store to meet Wang Yunyan without even going home.
Two middle-aged women spent the afternoon shopping. They first went to look at the shops next to hers, but unfortunately, the owner had already transferred the shops to a relative, and they were too late.
Wang Yunyan felt embarrassed that Chen Hong had made the trip for nothing. She decided to leave the shop assistant to watch the store while she led Chen Hong around the neighborhood.
"It's okay, there are plenty of shops nearby. If this one doesn't work, we'll find another one."
I refuse to believe it. There used to be so many shops for rent and resale; if we wanted to buy, surely someone would sell them to us?
"Oh, let's not rush. Let's just take our chances! If we find something suitable, we'll take a look. If not, we'll just treat it as a shopping trip."
Yunyan, it's been almost twenty years since we last hung out together. Now our kids are all grown up, and we don't have as much financial pressure anymore.
"We can finally steal a moment from our busy schedules and relax today."
Wang Yunyan was also very excited today. She met her old classmate whom she hadn't seen for more than ten years. They were still so close and there was no awkwardness between them. She was especially happy.
The two walked and looked around, slowly wandering to an alley on the west side, which was lined with fast food restaurants serving various cuisines from both the north and south of China.
They recalled the scene from more than a decade ago, "How come this street hasn't changed after all these years?"
I remember there was a really good rice noodle shop here. Their rice noodles were delicious, with plenty of meat in them. I still remember that wonderful aroma!
As Chen Hong and Wang Yunyan strolled around, they searched for the snack shops that reminded them of their memories, such as roasted chestnuts, stinky tofu, fried dough twists, steamed buns, and many other famous local snacks.
Last year, the underground supermarket in Quancheng Square, which is not far to the west, was flooded by a rainstorm and has not been restored to this day.
The large number of tenants leaving their properties has led to a decline in business on the nearby food streets as well.
"Business was pretty good on these streets the year before last! Last year, when there was a big flood, these snack vendors were the first to be affected."
Last year I was thinking of renting a shop here and trying to switch to selling food, but now I've given up on that idea.
Look, only half the stores are open now, and the customer traffic isn't good at all! Making money this year is tough!
Wang Yunyan was explaining the situation to Chen Hong when a noisy argument suddenly broke out ahead of them.
"Give me my money back right now, or I'll smash up your shop."
They promised I could make money, but after more than three months of operation, I've lost over 100,000 yuan.
Let me tell you, don't say I'm bullying you. I don't want the deposit back, just return my 90,000 yuan rent for this year, and we'll call it even.
Otherwise, you can forget about renting this shop out again. Whoever dares to take it over, I'll make sure they can't stay in business!
Amidst the clamor of voices, a young woman's plea rang out: "Brother, your compensation has nothing to do with us. We signed a contract when we rented it out."
If you quit now, we'll definitely sublet it. It was clearly written in black and white back then that we wouldn't refund the rent and deposit if the lease wasn't for at least three years.
If the lease expires and you give us advance notice that you don't want to rent anymore, we will refund your deposit.
Think about it, it's a three-year lease, and you only worked there for three months. Not only does it affect our ability to rent out the property, but you also want a refund. This is simply unacceptable from any angle.
The tenant got angry: "Damn it, you guys are all liars. When you rented the place, you said it was a prime location and charged such a high rent."
"I lost 100,000 in March alone. If this continues, I'll lose 400,000 to 500,000 a year, and 1 to 2 million in three years. Your shop is only worth this much. Are you trying to rip me off?"
The landlords were a young couple. The man saw the tenant getting angry and rolling up his sleeves as if he wanted to hit him, but he also got scared and hid behind the woman, shouting:
"Brother, we didn't mean to lie to you. The market situation is not up to you or me to decide."
It's not just your business that's struggling. If everyone were to break their contracts because they couldn't make money, wouldn't that create chaos?
How can you be like this? You don't want to continue renting, and you won't let anyone else rent to you, yet you want us to refund the rent. You're being completely unreasonable.
We can break the contract, but we really can't get a refund! We just bought a house, and now our elderly relative is sick. We really don't have any money.
If we had the money, we wouldn't be in such a rush to rent the house out again.
If you want to cause trouble, there's nothing we can do. That's just how things are now, so you decide what to do!
If we really smash up the shop, no one will rent it, I won't make any money, and neither will you."
The middle-aged tenant wasn't a reasonable person either. Seeing that he really couldn't get a single penny out of the shop, he gave an order and led five or six burly men to rush into the shop, smashing it to pieces with a flurry of swinging pickaxes.
They took everything – tables, chairs, basins, jars, tableware, bar counters, even the ceiling lights – it was like the Japanese invaders had invaded a village.
The owner of the shop next door, being an old neighbor, advised the young couple: "Huazhen, why don't you return the rent to them? I think these people are not easy to deal with."
Why did you provoke them? If you get your money back and rent the shop out again, you won't lose more than a few tens of thousands of yuan.
If they keep coming to cause trouble, not only will you not be able to rent out your shop, but you'll also drag down the businesses next door.
"Look, in just a short while, all the customers in these shops have left. They're not making any money. You're going to offend all the neighbors!"
The homeowner in Huazhen twisted his neck and refused to back down: "I have no money. If I had money, would I still be arguing with them?"
I can't help it if it affects your business; everyone's having a tough time right now.
If you really want to help me, you can buy my shop, or rent it out for me.
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